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Ambush at the Dark Fangs
"In the end, the False Empress is not that bad. After all, she has given us a fleet!" -Admiral Katla after the battle- The Ambush at the Dark Fangs was one of the first void battles fought during the Yadran civil war between the fleet of the Enlightened Kingdom of Ra'Tagrass under the command of Admiral Katla and the Royal armada of the Kingdom of Yadra under Admiral Ur'Kamanu. The battle was a decisive victory for the forces of the Enlightened Kingdom and prevented an invasion to their capital for years to come. Moreover, the battle is also seen as the highest point of the career of High Admiral Katla, member of the Second Quadrumvirate. After her complete victory and the taking of her foes' ships, she was given the rank of commandeer of all the fleets of the Enlightened Kingdom, making her one of the most powerful Karthemas in her realm. For the Kingdom of Yadra, this defeat served as a wake-up call to the many deficiencies of their fleet and crews, the latter sometimes switching sides mid-battle due to a lack of loyalty towards the new Empress. Moreover, as the Kingdom had lost all its trainer officers, fleets and vessels during the Great southeastern war, the officers and crews taking part during the battle were simply unable to react and perform correctly against their opponents, one of the major reasons for the defeat of the Yadrani fleet. Background The fleets A weak nation before the start of the civil war, the Yadrani fleet was not known for its long list of victories. During their war against the Commonwealth, many of their best ships, crews and officers had been destroyed, leaving only the very young and old to try and rebuild the Yadrani armada to at least a shadow of its former glory. When the Enlightened Kingdom of Ra'Tagrass declared war against the Kingdom of Yadra, the last thing they wished was a battle between fleets. Despite the lack of numbers of trained crews, the Empress of the Kingdom of Yadra could still field powerful vessels. Ra'Tagrass in the meantime had only some squadrons of corvettes, built for patrol, skirmishing and pirate hunting rather than facing battlecruisers head on. Wanting to end the war as quickly as possible, Empress Hask'Valgam I sent her armada as quickly as possible to destroy the fleets of Ra'Tagrass and thus prevent them from mounting any effective attacks. Stronger when it came to its ships, the Armada which went forth to face the rebels had been weakened due to the rebellion and the Kingdom's lack of resources. Many captains were either to young and inexperienced, or to old and unable to get used to new tactics and strategies in the void of space. Admiral Ur'Kamanu himself was chosen more for the fact that he was one of the few officers available than any show of skill or loyalty. Even so, reports say he was a competent commander, yet cruel when it came to choosing the punishment for the crews. This cruelty did not made him loved amongst the crews of the fleet, many of whom had spent months without proper pay. This low morale and anger towards their commander would be an important factor for the battle to come. Skirmishes The skirmishes fought by the fleet of the Kingdom of Yadra during the first weeks of the advance made it look like the invasion of Ra'Tagrass would be anything but difficult. Those squadrons of the Enlightened Kingdom who did not just flee when facing the Royal fleet immediately pulled back after a volley from the batteries of the battlecruisers.Some corvettes went as far as to join the Royal fleet on their march, something which increased the confidence of Admiral Ur'Kamanu to unsafe levels. Even worse, while few spoke of it, the skirmishes between fleets showed how untrained many of the battery crews were when it came to firing their weapons. At long distances, only one shot out of every ten found its mark, with only a few enemy corvettes falling back with any damage to their shields. Hearing of this reports, Katla (at that time a low admiral), prepared a plan to surprise her overconfident foe before he could reach Ra'Tagrass. The Dark Fangs A ring of dark, sharp asteroids near the capital of the Enlightened Kingdom, the Dark Fangs provided only the most basic of resources to the planet. Since most ships often ignored the Fangs, Katla chose to hide her fleet (a mixture of ancient corvettes and "borrowed" merchant ships) amongst the asteroids. Silently, the vessels waited, many of them filled with knights and lowborn soldiers. Without any weapons able to match the battlecruisers of the Kingdom of Yadra, Katla chose a different, rather unorthodox option. She would take the ships by assault. The Battle An ambush sprung Detecting no ships in the area, the Royal Fleet moved straight for the capital world, eager to destroy their main, orbital base. Katla, waiting in one of her fleet's largest merchant ships, gave the signal once the enemy fleet had given their backs to hers. Turning on their engines, corvettes and civilian vessels shot forth at top speed while the stunned Yadrani armada tried to react to the ambush. A few vessels, mostly corvettes, turned and fired at the incoming ships, their wild shots missing or just glancing the attackers. Acting as a screen, the corvettes of the Enlightened Kingdom faced their Kingdom of Yadra counterparts, keeping them busy while the merchant ships continued their desperate race towards the cruisers. Once they had their sides to them, Admiral Ur'Kamanu gave the order to fire. Despite their lack of training, some of the shots did find their marks, especially as the incoming vessels came to close range of the Yadrani batteries. Several merchant ships were either blown up or damanged in such a way that they could no longer keep going. Still, Katla and many of her knights still managed to reach their targets. Assaults Flooding into the battlecruisers like a torrent of water, knights and squires charged into the stunned crews, few of whom were equiped in the same way of the armored warriors coming to slay them. Katla herself was the first to set foot (or claw) into the "Mezak", the ship of the Yadrani admiral. Wielding her twin blades, she made short work of those unlucky enough to be one her way, her knights quickly rushing to slay the crews manning the ship's weapons so other merchant vessels could continue with the attacks without opposition. Soon, the other battlecruisers too suffered attacks from the knightly crews. In the "Silverblade", a noble loyal to the Kingdom of Yadra held back the attackers for nearly ten minutes before being cut down, the floor around him littered with enemy corpses. In the "True Spear", one of Katla's leutenants took control of one of the batteries and began to direct fire towards nearby enemy corvettes, damageing some and forcing a few others back. Yet the battle still seemed to be in the balance. After all, there were still plenty of crew in all the battlecruisers, more than the knights coming after them. Then, disaster struck. Betrayal at the "Mezak" Nobody truly knows what sparked the betrayal of the crew at the Mezak. Maybe it was Katla's fearsome appearance, maybe they just wanted a chance for revenge on their loathed admiral. Either way, by the time Katla, covered by the blood of her foes, reached the command room of the "Mezak", the Yadrani admiral was dead alongside his loyalists, his former crew standing over his body with smoking guns on their hands. Using the traitors to man the battlecruiser, Katla ordered all guns to fire on the enemy corvettes before they could destroy her increasingly-battered vessels. Seeing how their ships could not be saved, and under heavy enemy fire, the surviving ships of the Kingdom of Yadra fell back, leaving behind the new, capital ships of the Enlightened Kingdom of Ra'Tagrass. Aftermath After saving the capital world and increasing the power of the fleet of the Enlightened Kingdom, Katla was given a good number of honors and titles, the most important of which was that of High Admiral of all the Kingdom's fleets. With their new ships, the Enlightened Kingdom would be able to go on the offensive and bring terror to the forcesof the Kingdom of Yadra. Despite the defeat, the Ambush at the Dark Fangs did not bring the end of the war and the Kingdom of Yadra. The lessons of this loss saw the creation of a new fleet, one which would prove to be more than a match for Katla and the Enlightened Kingdom. Category:Battles Category:Battles involving the Kingdom of Yadra Category:Kingdom of Yadra